


At His Side

by BetweenPaperPages



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, OUAT - Freeform, Once Upon A Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 09:23:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4216302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetweenPaperPages/pseuds/BetweenPaperPages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle has done "the brave thing", but she feels far from brave after banishing her husband, Rumpelstiltskin, from Storybrooke. There is only one person she can turn to, to confide her actions and feelings, but what will she learn about herself in the process?</p><p>Set after season four episode 11 "Shattered Sight".</p>
            </blockquote>





	At His Side

Belle couldn’t drive the Cadillac back to the pink-salmon house, or the pawnshop, or even the cabin in the woods. Each place was far too full of **_them; of him._** It felt like hours before her legs began to work, her knees questioning her resolve as she had to force the joints to function to walk away from the town line. Belle had thought about going to Granny’s Bed and Breakfast for a room, but she couldn’t face the questions that would ensue from either Granny Lucas or Ruby for her late-night request.

 

What Belle needed was air, fresh air. She didn’t turn her direction towards the docks, or the woods; only one spot would do.

 

It was easy to get to, despite how her body ached; the movement was memorized, having made the trip plenty of times. Her feet finally rested as she reached the location, easing herself down onto the ground, the grass giving way and bending beneath her.

 

“Hey there.” She greeted but her lips failed to smile. Belle’s eyes were blood shot, rimmed red from tears, and her lower lip split and dry from biting it raw.

 

Though she didn’t get an answer, there seemed to be a silent agreement for her to continue to speak. “I know this is an odd time to show up in the middle of the night but I needed to see you…. after what happened tonight.” She confessed, her breath labored as she tried to control a sob, her hand coming up to rest on her chest. “I know I shouldn’t but I knew you would listen…”

 

Maybe that is what she needed, someone to listen, not try to solve the problem, find a solution, or try to comfort her, just to listen, and he was perfect for that. Her shoulders slumped as she leaned forward ~~s~~ to rest her forehead against the chilled stone.

 

“I banished him, kicked him out of town with nothing! I didn’t even think to give him his cane even. He would need it out there…. Wouldn’t he? It’s not like there is magic out there to sustain his ankle…” Belle spoke, knowing the words slipped uncensored from her lips.

 

“That was one kindness I could have afforded him.” She whispered the confession, her breath puffing from her lips, visible as it met the chilled air.

 

It felt like hours, but it could very well have been minutes, when she lifted her head again to look at the man in front of her. “I need to know what you would have done. You knew him before all of this happened, before he changed. I know he was a good man I always saw good in him, but I can’t see it anymore… and it scares me.”

 

Her forehead rested itself back in place as her hand slipped from her heart down to her stomach, wrapping her arms around herself to fight off the chill. Tears fell silently down her cheeks and she held herself as tight as she could to keep the sobs back. She had already made her decision and there was no turning back from what actions she had taken against her husband. He wouldn’t be able to return; Storybrooke would be forever ridden of The Dark One, and she would be seen as a hero for banishing such an old and dark evil from their little town.

 

‘ _Do the brave thing and bravery will follow.’_ That she had always believed in, it made her strong to believe in its truth; but now it was different. She felt hollow and alone, nowhere near brave, and far from the person she had become. Belle didn’t regret her actions, she knew in her bones that it needed to be done, but she did regret what she hadn’t done. She felt that she should have seen what was happening to him, so much had happened in such a short time that the relief of being together again washed over her making it feel as if nothing that past year could touch them.

 

Being in love was a wondrous thing; she recalled her Mother’s explanation of what it felt like: _‘It feels like the most important thing in the world. It makes us brave, happy, and content, without it, it feels like despair. It shows us that the happiness of someone else is far greater than our own.’_

 

Her stomach churned, threating to force its contents out of her body as a chill ran down her spine, her arms clamping around her waist in protection of her vulnerable state. Belle loved Rumpelstiltskin in ways that she couldn’t form into words, but that brief memory of her Mother’s words slapped her with the cold truth of reality. Rumpelstiltskin’s happiness hadn’t come first as they stood at the town line, the dagger clutched in her hand as it was thrust out between them as a visual barrier.

 

Rather, her own happiness had come first, along with the safety of the town; he had lied to her, twisted words as he always had to step through loop holes, to gain what he wanted. What was it that he wanted? Power, he had always wanted power, it meant more to him than she ever had.

 

Her throat ached as her lips finally parted again, her hand coming up to wipe away the stains her tears had left on her cheeks. “If you had been here… everything would have been different… He would have had something to fight for, to keep himself from turning towards the darkness again.” She breathed, believing every word that she whispered. “I tired… I promise you that I tired but I wasn’t enough, I wasn’t enough to him…”

 

Belle’s back arched as she took in a deep breath of fresh air, her body attempting to fill her lungs completely as the chill racked her chest and inside. “And after everything that has happened, I failed him. I failed my true love.” She confessed, lifting her face up again, pulling her slumped form away.

 

Her cerulean eyes flittered down to her left had where her wedding ring sat, only to reach with her right to tug gently at the symbol, pulling it from the digit. For a moment, she simply let it rest in her palm as the moonlight reflected off the gems, causing them to glitter in the soft light. Belle reached out as she sat the ring against the base of the head stone, only to lean forward and press her lips softly against the top edge of it. “Please… forgive me Neal.”


End file.
